Crushing Summer

by C. M. Stunich

  “We're heading to the boardwalk,” I explained. Since Casper wasn't from around here, he wouldn't understand the importance and the beauty of opening night. It was the only day the docks were clean, not sticky with felled cotton candy sticks and greasy corn dogs. It was also the night of the big firework show, and the single most important day of the year besides Assignment Night. This was when everyone would show their true colors. We'd get to see who was going to hold their Assignment with dignity and who was going to rule with fear. “Since Cage is King, I can go without anyone bothering me.” I looked over at Casper who didn't seem convinced. I imagined that if I was from out of town, this would all seem pretty nuts to me, too. I mean, I was from San Aplastar and it sounded crazy. “If I went without him, I'd get swarmed with … ” I searched for an appropriate word, and could only come up with one. “Crushes.”

  Casper frowned and looked away, nodding slightly. But he didn't get it, and I almost didn't want him to. It'd be nice to have someone around who was completely removed from the Assignment. If he'd stick around. I wasn't sure if I'd blown our introduction. I mean, I essentially lied to the guy, got his sister wrapped up in the worst possible situation ever, and then accepted a date from another guy. Not exactly a good way to show I was interested. And I was. This … sparkle of heat between our fingers was special. I couldn't imagine this feeling as something that came along easily or often.

  I noticed that he was looking down at our hands almost as much as I was, so at least I knew I wasn't completely insane. He felt it, too.

  “I put your shell on my windowsill,” I told him, wanting him to know how important it was to me. He laughed and swiped a hand over his face. His green eyes searched the horizon and then flickered back to me, long lashes sweeping his pale cheeks as he blinked. “It's with the rest of my collection, but just for now. I think it would look nice inside a glass pendant, something I could hang on a necklace.”

  “You don't have to pretend to like it,” he told me, and he didn't sound upset, just confused. Not like I could blame him. I was sending mixed signals like crazy.

  “But I do,” I protested as we paused near a crest of rocks, rising like a Mohawk out of the sea, a spiky slice of rocky hair jutting up out of the earth. Julie and Heidi were in earshot now, so I dropped the conversation. I could always bring it up later. I released Casper's hand and shivered as a chill breeze cut through my spine and twirled the ties on the back of my bikini top around. “Okay, guys,” I began, taking a step forward and pausing with both feet on the wet sand. A split second later, a rush of foam billowed up around my ankles and cooled me to the core. The water was a nice complement to the heat of the sun above us, cold but not freezing. Perfect. “Follow me, and make sure you put your feet in the same places I put mine.” I moved forward and stepped over the lowest point of rock, feeling around with my toes before I put my weight on my foot. The beach was subject to change without warning. It didn't matter that I'd walked this path a hundred times before. I might go for a spot that was no longer there and get swept away by the water. Not going to happen. Not today. Of course, there was always the risk, but I was willing to take it. Just so long as I didn't have to swim, I could handle being surrounded by my arch nemesis. The water and I were understanding of one another, even if we weren't exactly the best of friends.

  “Stay in front of me, okay?” I heard Casper telling Julie, but when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw that she was already behind me, leaving her brother on the dry beach. Heidi crossed her arms over her chest and looked out at me with a frown on her face.

  “I think I'm going to skip the caves today,” she called out, and I paused, keeping the corner of my eye on the ocean and trying to focus on her face.

  “Are you serious?” I asked, wondering why she'd waited until I was all the way out here to tell me that. Okay, I knew why she'd waited. She knew if I was still on the sand with her, that I'd have talked her into going. Heidi shrugged and threw up a little wave, punctuating the arrival of a car in the parking lot. From the blare of the rap music that shook the very cliffs around us, I knew who it was. Justin. Ugh. I stared at her, but what was I going to do? Hang out in the most vulnerable spot on the shore with Casper's sister behind me?

  My blood was boiling, but there was nothing I could so, and she knew it. So she was going to bail and hang out with Justin? I couldn't even believe it. With a forced sigh, and a lot of patience, I continued forward until the water was up to my knees, wading through shallow pools and sidestepping boulders, keeping them between us and the ocean.

  “I've never done anything like this,” Julie whispered, keeping close behind me. Casper was trailing behind a bit, eyes locked onto his sister's back. I had no doubt that if she were to fall or get pulled out into the water, he would go after her. Even if it killed him. I turned back forward and then spun to face the sea head on. We had to sidestep this part, keeping our backs against the rock and moving in teeny-tiny crablike steps until we reached the mouth of the first cave. Julie continued without my prompting. “I've spent most of my life in hospitals, trying to get better.” Her smile shifted from a normal teenage grin to something different. “So when we found out that I was never going to get better, I finally got my life back. Funny how that works, right? I spent all my time trying to live, but when I realized I wasn't going to, I decided I never had.”

  Julie paused in a shallow bit of water, one foot on a bank of wet sand, the other in a tidal pool. When she reached down, she cupped something in her palms and stood up. Sitting there resting on her pale skin was a pink starfish.

  When we reached the cave, Julie went running, sprinting up the rock wall on the side and balancing on the edge before her brother had even come around the corner. She held up a finger to her lips and moved away into the shadows before he could see her climbing all over the place. I smiled and turned back, moving back out of the shade and into the sun, so I could help Casper the last few feet. This cave was safe and not all that deep. There were other ones, more dangerous ones, cavernous whirls of darkness that we'd never even fully explored. Most of which were strictly off limits. I didn't plan on taking my new friends to any of those. After this one, there were a few smaller ones around the corner that I could guide them to, some that looked like lions' mouths or donuts or smiley faces.

  “Whoa,” Casper said, digging around his pants for something. He came up with a cigarette, and I wrinkled my nose unconsciously. When he saw my expression, he paused and looked down at the white stick in his fingers. “Not a fan?” he asked, and I shrugged.

  “Not exactly,” I explained, holding up a hand. “Lost three grandparents to lung cancer.” I dropped my wrist by my side and gave him a sad smile. “But if you want to, it's your body, and I won't complain.” As I turned away, I didn't miss him sticking it back in his pocket. He moved forward, eyes rising to the bumpy roof above us, dripping with salt water that stung when we glanced up. He was so enthralled by it that it took him a second to realize he couldn't see his sister.

  “Julie?” he asked suddenly, dropping his chin with a panicked flash in his eyes.

  At first she didn't answer, and even I felt a surge of fear, but then her head appeared out of the darkness, skin white as a ghost's. She smiled at us and then dropped to the sand in a crouch that had her brother squeezing his hands into fists and frowning. Julie rose to her feet gracefully, not at all like someone who was sick. She looked feral and wild, like she belonged in Island of the Blue Dolphins or something.

  “This is absolutely incredible,” she said, spinning around and holding her arms out to catch some stray drops of water. The waves licked at the opening, sending sparkling patterns of sunshine across the walls. “I could stay here all summer, really. Bring me a good book and a couple of cherry Cokes, and I'm good to go.” She dropped her gaze to mine and winked. “Being the Outcast won't be so bad if I can spend it out here.”

  “Just be careful,” I told her, thinking of Tatiana. “It's not always going to be this empty.
Everyone's gunning for the boardwalk tonight, but starting tomorrow, there'll be bonfires and parties galore out here.” I glanced over at Casper, but he wasn't looking at me. He was holding his fingers against the wall and sliding them along the moist surface. To me, it looked like he was shaking hands with the earth, getting to know her for the first time. “But you know what might be fun?” I asked, watching as the two of them began to venture further into the darkness at the back of the cave. To me, this place was like a second home. I'd been here so many times, I could draw a map in the sand. But instead, I let them explore, wondering if they'd find the secret tunnel in the back on their own or if I'd have to show it to them. It was dangerous as hell, but a whole lot of fun. If my parents even had an inkling of how many times I'd crawled through it, they'd have killed me. “In the morning, just after the tide goes out, there are little pools everywhere. You're not supposed to touch anything in them, but it's fun to look. We can even bring a guidebook or something, maybe identify some starfish?” A chuckle resounded off the walls of the cave.

  “Count us in,” Julie said from somewhere in front of me.

  “Us?” Casper asked, and even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell he would be there. Maybe I hadn't screwed up with him as much as I'd thought? I tried not to smile.

  “Should we meet you here?” she asked, just as I heard a smattering of voices from outside the cave. Neither of the Alice siblings seemed to notice, but I did. It was The Assignment, after all. I was on hyper-alert.

  “Why not?” I asked, moving back towards the entrance. I didn't want to alarm either of them, but I had to look. It was probably just a family BBQ or something, but it never hurt to be cautious. Especially after what happened to Tatiana. I shivered and clamped my arms across my chest, stepping into the foamy water at the mouth of the cave. “Six o'clock sound alright?” I distinctly heard a groan from Casper, but already, Julie was agreeing for him.

  “We'll be here.”

  I leaned out into the sunshine, enjoying the wash of hot warmth over my chilled body. At first, I didn't see anyone, but then I glanced up at the parking lot and saw the row of cars. Oh crap. I leaned my back against the stone wall and waded through the water, making sure to keep out of sight of the beach. As soon as I got to the crest in the wall, I leaned forward and took a peak.

  My breath caught in my throat when I saw Heidi standing there, arms crossed over her chest. She wasn't happy, but everyone else seemed to be. They were riled up, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Shayla Harold was standing front and center, hands on her hips, braids swept up into a massive ponytail. She had her phone wrapped in a plastic bag, clutched tight in her hand, and she was shouting orders like she'd been born royal.

  It didn't take a genius to figure out why Shayla and her entourage of Students was clustered at the edge of the shore. I wasn't the only person in town who knew the secrets of the caves. And now, I wasn't the only person who knew Julie's whereabouts either. Or mine for that matter. Obviously, somebody had ratted us out. I didn't think it was Heidi &ndas

  h; or at least I didn't want to believe it was Heidi. My money was on Justin.

  “Crap.” I slid back into the cave and started off at a jog, blinded by the sunshine. While my eyes were struggling to adjust, I ran right into Casper's back and bounced off, bare skin burning where it had brushed up against his. He spun around quick and actually caught me around the waist before I tripped and fell butt first into the sand. Imagine that? While we stood there, like two strangers in a waltz, I could here Julie climbing around on the ledge beside us.

  His green eyes were dark, swallowed up by shadows, like a forest canopy limned in moonlight. Gorgeous. Casper was easily the most beautiful boy I had ever seen, Cage included. There was just something different about him.

  “You alright?” he asked me, teeth white in the darkness. “You look a little shook up.”

  It took me a moment to gather my wits around me, pull my head from the clouds. I couldn't very well tell Casper that I thought my classmates were murderers … I mean, it's like I really thought that. It's just, with Tatiana dying in the ocean, and Julie here in the cave, I did not trust a mob like that to keep things tame. Besides, whatever they were going to do, as innocent as it seemed, I didn't want to see them go through with it. Seeing Julie humiliated, especially when I was the one that brought her out here, would be devastating. Casper would probably never speak to me again.

  “Looks like I was wrong,” I began, knowing that I wasn't exactly being truthful but unable to spit out what was really going on. It seemed too brutal somehow. Chasing Julie down with the sole purpose of making her feel like crap? I just couldn't get onboard with that kind of programming. “There's a beach party getting started at the edge of the shore.” Casper set me on my feet, sliding his fingers across the bare skin of my hips, just below my shirt. I almost choked on my words then, almost let them get lost in my throat as I watched him take a step back and eye me suspiciously. He didn't believe me. But it was worse even than that. He suspected me. “If we go back that way, they'll see us.” I pointed ahead into the darkness where Julie was emerging, skirt dripping wet. “There's a tunnel in the back that leads to some of the smaller caves. If we follow it all the way through, it'll take us out the other side and onto the road near the bank. My dad's working today, so he can give us a ride.”

  “What about my car?” Casper asked, and I hated the way he looked at me in that moment, like I was one of them, someone separate from the normal population, a crazy person. I licked my lower lip, tasting salt, and flipped some hair over my shoulder.

  “They'll probably be waiting there,” I explained, hoping that was all they'd be doing. Technically, the car belonged to Casper, not Julie, but they might not care about that. If he was lucky, all they'd do was write on the windows with car paint. If he was unlucky, they might slit the tires or break some of the windows. That's what they did to Missy Ula last year. “You guys can hang out at my house for awhile, and I'll take you over there after the boardwalk opens up. There won't be anybody around then.”

  “What about your date?” Casper asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. But we didn't have time to discuss it. I could hear voices moving closer, riding the waves into our dark sanctuary and echoing off the walls. It felt like there were people everywhere, looking down at us from the crevices, leering and giggling wickedly. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight. Suddenly, I was terrified of my classmates. My friends. The people I'd been going to school with since before I could even remember. Most people have a wicked side they keep hidden. Sometimes, when they get together, that cruelty collects and gathers like a storm overhead. I did not want to stick around and wait for the tsunami.

  I reached out and snatched Casper's wrist in one hand, Julie's in the other, and then I started to move quickly into the blackness. I didn't need to wait for my eyes to adjust fully. I knew exactly where I was going. The others might know about the caves and the best way to get into them, but most of them didn't know about the tunnel. And even if they did, most were too scared to go into it. Rightfully so, I supposed, because if a wave were to sneak up on us, it could fill the passageway and we could drown. I was aware of the danger, but at the moment, it seemed worth the risk. I didn't want to admit that to myself, but I was more scared of the Students, of Shayla, than I was of the ocean. How messed up is that?

  “Just follow me and holler if you get stuck.”

  “Stuck?” Casper asked, face paling as I dropped to my knees in the wet sand. He and his sister were so pale that they were visible even in the dark. I smiled and shrugged.

  “It can get a little tight in here,” I explained, examining his strong shoulders and muscular chest. Casper was more … developed than the other guys in my grade. He looked more like a man than the rest of them. As soon as this thought ran through my head, I flushed neon red and turned away, nestling my fingers into the wet ground for support. Wow. I might be the Crush, but I think I also
have a crush. A smile teased my lips as I started forward and listened for the sounds of Casper and Julie crawling after me. I really hoped that he wouldn't get stuck. I couldn't even imagine how that would play out.

  “Casper's claustrophobic,” Julie began, her hair brushing against my bare feet as I squeezed my body past the first curve and around the corner. It was so dark in here, and moist, like the air was liquid, coating my tongue and the insides of my cheeks with salt water. It should've been stifling, but it wasn't. It was almost comforting in a way.

  “Not clinically,” I heard him call out from behind us. “But I'm not going to lie. This is not my idea of a good time.” With a grunt, I listened as he moved behind us, scraping past the curve with a flurry of curses and a few choice words for The Assignment.

  “It's not too far between caves,” I explained, listening as the earth muffled my voice and made me sound small, like a little kid wrapped in a blanket. Only this blanket was tons and tons of rock and sand and dirt towering above me, ready to crash down and suffocate us at any moment. I pushed the thought back, sent up a silent prayer for Casper and kept going. If he really was claustrophobic, this could not be an easy task. “We can rest in between and take a breather. The others aren't quite tall enough to stand up in, but at least we can sit comfortably.”

  “This,” Julie said with a small hiccup, one that had her brother sucking in a lungful of harsh breath. “Is like an adventure.” When she started to cough, my heart rate picked up and guilt came crashing down around me like a wave. How could I have been so stupid? Of course we were going to get discovered. The first day after Assignment Night was notoriously bad for the Outcast. It was a day of limbo, somewhere in between beach parties and road trips. They had nothing else to do, so they came looking for her. Or rather, they were called. As soon as I saw Justin, and Heidi for that matter, I was going to go off on them. Especially Heidi. How could she have let this happen? I expected more out of her. “Something you could write books about.”